On Wednesday, Dec. 5, the Kansas City Star will institute a new “Paywall” system that will increase charges to subscribers for access to its digital content.
The announcement was made today by the Star’s President and Publisher Mi-Ai Parrish in a note on the Star’s Web site.
As expected, Parrish did not tell customers how much of an increase they will see in their bills, only referring to it as “a few cents more.” She also did not address whether print subscribers will have to pay for the digital content even if they don’t access it.
Tonyskansascity.com seems to think the idea has been tried before at the McClatchy-owned newspaper without success. He feels strongly that this latest paywall idea will not work. “People will get their news some place else for free,” he noted.
Parrish admits the change won’t be “fun” for subscribers.
“Now, I understand that being charged for something that you’ve gotten for free isn’t fun,” she wrote. “But providing unlimited access across all platforms for a small amount makes good sense.”
Here is Parrish’s letter to subscribers:
It has a few different names: The metered system, the all-platform-access program, the digital subscription, but mostly folks just call it The Paywall.
Later this year, The Kansas City Star will join hundreds of other news operations in moving to whatever it is you’d like to call it. Essentially, we’re going to charge a little bit for people to get our digital content, but you’ll be able to access it in a multitude of ways.
So, beginning on Dec. 5, The Star is adding all of our digital subscription products for our home delivery subscribers so that you will be able to enjoy one inclusive print and digital “Star+” subscription package.
Now, I understand that being charged for something that you’ve gotten for free isn’t fun. But providing unlimited access across all platforms for a small amount makes good sense.
This all-access way of packaging our content addresses the new ways people come to us, and provides incredible flexibility for readers.
Readers will have unlimited access to our suite of digital products, including kansascity.com, e-Star replica edition, mobile sites, digital back-issues and archive databases. This provides subscribers with access on smart phones, tablets, PCs and more. With e-Star — our digital replica of The Star’s print edition — articles, photographs, even in-paper ads and crossword puzzles, can be emailed, printed and saved.
I recognize that charging even a few cents more isn’t necessarily popular, but we hope you’ll recognize that it is a logical strategy to enable us to provide quality local news and information in the increasingly myriad ways people reach us.
We are glad more people than ever read The Kansas City Star, as technology continues to enable us to reach more people in new ways. Thank you for reading and for helping us continue to serve and grow in this community, as we have for more than 131 years.
Mi-Ai Parrish is president and publisher of The Star.
UPDATE: In a very classy move, both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have taken down their Paywalls as Hurricane Sandy bears down on much of the country.
WHAT ‘FREE’ CONTENT?
“Now, I understand that being charged for something that you’ve gotten for free isn’t fun.”
FREE-I have to endure moronic pop-ups and a boatload of banner ads, and that’s for “free” content? If the ads on the online site aren’t covering the costs, there’s a problem with the online model that has nothing to do with the site users.
I am a print subscriber but I may stick with the other news outlets in town for my content.
PRINT-ONLY SUBSCRIPTION?
Also not addressed is whether we will be able to have a print-only subscription. I do not use nor do I want a digital subscription. If forced to have the digital subscription, I will just cancel and pick up the few papers I read each week at the local convenience store.
PICKING ON STAR
So what! The New York Times has been doing a paywall system for a while. It has not hurt them one bit. In fact the Times multi-media experience on their web is getting better all the time. Maybe the Star will follow that path? Either way John, I get tired of watching you pick on the Star all the time. I don’t even work there, never have or never will. But you can’t blame them for needing to make a profit. It’s no different than your business. How many people do you employ? I bet no more than 2 others at most. Why don’t you employ more people, spend more time on getting facts straight which you don’t always, and lose money on your business like the Star has for the past few years.
You consider reporting on a new Star PayWall as “picking on them?” I do wish the Star would tell its customers how much extra they will be paying. As a customer I feel they owe me that much.
NYT VS. KC STAR
The NY Times is a real newspaper….the KC Star is a pedestrian newspaper at best!
COMPARING STAR/NYT NOT CLOSE
Comparing the NYT and KCStar is not even close. The level of content and writers is so much higher at the NYT, the Star is not even close. Paying for the NYT makes sense, the Star, not so much.
NOT A PAID CHEERLEADER FOR STAR
Uh Ryan, John isn’t paid to be a cheerleader for the Star and and “so what” how many employees John has at Bottom Line. If individual writers at the Star can be written-word critics, so can John. It’s allowed. I know because I checked.
McCLATCHY WINDFALL
If it was more money for the STAR, that would be fine. But it’s really just more money for McClatchy.
GUSEWELLE UPSET AGAIN?
Hope Charles Gusewelle does not ride around the KC Star Building in his Smart Car yelling obscenities over this.
NOT A HAPPY CUSTOMER
Not terribly happy with any of the content, digital or otherwise. Dropped full-time delivery last year and am now on the 4-day delivery plan. Wouldn’t even take it were it not for the hubby. But after sharing this news, even he has decided it’s probably time to drop it for good and picking up the occasional paper (Sunday)instead. Been relying on Northland papers for local news anyway, everything else in the Star is usually a couple of days old. The Star’s national news is slim and haven’t seen anything on Benghazi for days.
SOMETHING WORTH PRICE
I wonder if this is good news for the New York Times pay wall? If we’re going to have to pay, why not get something more worth buying?
Good point. In my case the New York Times is cheaper to have delivered to my hone for seven days a week than the Kansas City Star is for five days.
DEVIL’S IN THE DETAILS
As they say, the devil’s in the details, but unfortunately it’s details we’re lacking in The Star’s decision to move to a pay-to-play Wall. Price? Ms. Parrish tells us it will only cost a few cents more, but later she says the change won’t be fun for subscribers. That almost implies a steeper price increase.
One commenter wants to know if a print-only subscription will still be available. Legitimate question. At any rate, this announcement had been expected since McClatchy had indicated previously that it was going to be doing something like this company-wide.
NOT WILLING TO $$
It appears as if McClatchy believes that the vast majority of those who still subscribe to the Star are hardcore, and probably won’t cancel as a result of a rate increase.
Paywalls work for specialized content. The Star nothing for which I’m willing to pay.
THAT WOULD BE MS
Uh, locomotive breath, it’s MS. Parrish, not MR. Parrish.
WHY SO LONG?
My only question to Mr. Parrish is ‘What took you so long?’
WILL THERE BE A PRINT EDITION?
“Also not addressed is whether we will be able to have a print-only subscription.”
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A better question might be: “For how much longer will there BE a print subscription?”
IF WE LOSE THE STAR WE LOSE NEWS
For as few potential customers as their Paywall will generate and the ‘pennies’ they’ll receive, is it worth even establishing it, given how small this market is?
I think we’re going to have to come to the conclusion that this city can’t afford a prestigious local newspaper bearing it’s name.
Wondering if McClatchey will mix national news with national sales, and just pack a local section for cities like this one, with a smaller office of local news. I don’t think we’ve seen how local papers in NON-major markets like KC will consolidate for economies quite yet.
let em experiment with paywall, but I can’t think it’d give them enough to pay for their window-washers down at their new glass building.
No matter what happens, we consumers will be the losers….with less local news, less 4th estate government watchdogging by journalists.
Ya wanna know what that means? Look to New Orleans with a weak newspaper, the Piqaune? They didn’t warn citizens there about the weak dikes that destroyed their city. An aggressive newspaper in New Orleans would have stopped the local graft and corruption that eventually was the demise for their city.
TV news’ young pretty faced reporters aren’t up for that job… they just fill time between commercials with liveshot crime news, weather and sports. It takes crotchity newspaper beat reporters digging day after day …not under pressure to make little daily TV minimovies ready by 5pm.
The sad part is that few people realize how TV stations and bloggers RELY on newspapers to dig up the serious, enterprise news. If we lose the Star, we news consumers will lose the news that’s really important to us.
Most people don’t realize their TV stations and bloggers STEAL their news from the newspaper, and then call it their own!
STAR’S MOVE WRONG FOR MANY REASONS
This move by the Star is wrong for many reasons.
1. Most of the folks who take the paper (i.e., the hard copy), do so because they are not computer literate or do not want to read the paper on-line.
2. For on-line readers who won’t pay money for a hard copy (for whatever reason), they won’t suddenly start paying money; they will get their news from other sources. Fewer people discussing the Star will mean that fewer people will access the Star fewer times.
The Star may yet put itself out of business.
FAQ ABOUT NEW RATES
John Landsberg,
Answers to questions raised by you and in several of the comments on this post can be found in the FAQ linked to the online version of Mi-Ai Parrish’s Sunday column.
You can access it at the following URL: http://bit.ly/TR7WDf
WAY TO SURVIVE
Hard to blame the Star for trying to find a way to survive.
The blogs will no longer to use their material as a source.
SEVERAL KC STAR OPTIONS
Q. What are my digital subscription options?
A. There are several options. On your first renewal after Dec. 5, Star newspaper subscribers will have the digital bundle with unlimited digital access for $ .69 a week. This is available whether you subscribe 7 days a week or less.
After Dec. 5, if you want digital-only access, without a print subscription, the digital bundle alone will be $9.95 per month (or $109.45 per year if paid annually). New digital package subscribers will receive the first month for .99 cents. The digital subscription will automatically renew at the $9.95 per month price.
Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/10/26/3886738/press-plus-frequently-asked-questions.html#storylink=cpy
LOVE TECHNOLOGY, BUT COMPLAIN
It fascinates me that we have so many people who love technology, but complain about the products that come out. Or worse, complain that software doesn’t work as expected but then complain when a new version comes out that resolved the issues.
BETTER SITES FOR FREE
Totally ridiculous. Will not pay money for digital paper and certainly won’t for paper copy. There are better sites out there to read the news….for free! Am more than willing to pay for NY Times digital copy….KC Star? No way!
Deleting my RSS Feeds as I type changing them out to other news outlets Good Bye Star.